Soul Strings
by unlikelycorner
Summary: Small drabble of an AU where people have Soulmate-Identifying Marks. Cullen/f!Trevelyan. Two-shot. Complete!
1. I

To say Lyra was mystified by her soulmark was an understatement.

But she was also a bit terrified of it, because it did not seem like a particularly happy occasion.

Having had the words _I hope they're right about you. We've lost a lot of people getting you here_ in a neat handwriting wrapped around her wrist for as long as she could remember, she wasn't sure that whatever preceded meeting her soulmate was anything good.

In fact it sounded the exact opposite if it meant people would need to die for her sake when she stood beside the man or woman that the Maker had chosen for her.

And yet, what could possibly happen when she lived sheltered in the Circle of Magi? Maybe she would never meet them, whoever they were. There were many cases of mages in the tower to have their soulmarks disappear before ever encountering their soulmates.

It was a sad thing, to live a life when you are so feared for being born as you are, that the world itself kept you from your fated one. Everyone had the right to find the one for them, their soul companion, but mages were not part of everyone, society demanded.

A lot of mages never found their soulmates and the ones that did…well, it depended on who it was.

In a way, it was dangerous for mages to find their soulmates, especially if they happened to be Templars. Were that to happen and the first meeting was the last.

Templars were promptly reassigned to another Circle.

It seemed the sin of the mages was so enormous that they were undeserving of that small comfort that the Maker had provided for them all.

* * *

When it did happen, Lyra was so out of her depth that she didn't even make the connection that perhaps that was when she would meet her soulmate.

After closing yet another rift in the sky, the Seeker exchanged some words with one of the warriors, actually, a _Commander_ , that had approached them.

Tall and good looking, the blond man was looking tired and rough around the edges. He was a bit terse with his words but then again who wouldn't, after seeing the destruction around them.

After asking "Is it?" in the Seeker's direction and receiving a nod, he turned to fix his intense stare on her.

"I hope they're right about you. We've lost a lot of people getting you here."

Lyra promptly forgot how to breathe.

 _No, no, this couldn't be happening. Not now!_ Not when she might die!

Her panic must have showed in her face coupled with her lack of response and she heard the Seeker was asking her if she was alright.

Her soulmate was frowning at her.

 _Maker, this isn't how it was supposed to go._

She gulped and tried to find her voice knowing her next words were written somewhere in his body. "I…I can't promise anything, but I'll try my best."

Her voice was weak but the effect was instantaneous. The man's eyes widened in shock.

"You?" He asked, raising panic in his voice, whether at their situation or at something else, she did not know.

"Oh crap" The dwarf Varric muttered, when he understood what was happening. He winced in sympathy at the situation. It was anything but ideal.

She saw realization flowering on the short haired woman's face but was distracted when her soulmate's expression changed from slightly panicked to fierce.

"That's all we can ask." He said. He seemed to be trying to communicate something to her but they didn't know each other, how could she possibly read him?

It occurred to her that he might be asking her to do her best and, Maker willing, survive.

That thought filled her with hope and she held on to it as tightly as she could.

He turned to Lady Cassandra, "The way to the Temple should be clear. Leliana will try to meet you there."

The other woman nodded, back to business again, "Then we best move quickly." With a quick look at her, she added "Give us time Commander."

"Maker watch over you" The blond man that was her soulmate said, looking at Lyra and then at the group, "For all our sakes."

She nodded at him, expression tight. She wasn't so sure she could pull this off, but she would try, like she had promised.

She had one more reason to live now.

* * *

A/N: Inspired by the many Soulmate-Identifying Marks' fanfics around, especially in the Marvel fandom (and especially in Archive of Our Own) :)

Hope you enjoyed it, thank you for reading!


	2. II

Cullen rubbed the place where his neck met his back.

He knew it looked like a nervous gesture, and it very much was, but today it was more than that.

Not that rubbing the place where his soulmark was could somehow summon his soulmate. If it was so, he would have met her much, much sooner and in much better circumstances.

But now he knew who she was and where she was. And he knew that she may very well be walking to her death. Or be dead already.

He wondered somehow morbidly if he would feel it somehow, if she died. Soulmarks disappeared when the soulmate died but his was on such a place that he had no way to check.

He wasn't sure if he even wanted to.

It was a bit of a joke amongst his siblings that Cullen would have a lot of trouble to ever meet his soulmate if the place where the words _I can't promise anything, but I'll try my best_ was written, were anything to go by.

Cullen needed two mirrors to see the soulmark with his own eyes.

And thus he developed the habit of rubbing the spot where he knew the words were. He fancied he could feel the spot where the black letters were and could check if they were still there.

This was, of course, ridiculous, since he knew very well that he couldn't feel anything, apart of a small scar near the area. But still he persisted and the habit formed.

Now, more than ever, he wished he could feel or see the soulmark.

He sighed dejectedly, eyes moving from the breach on the sky to the visible warm breath he had exhaled.

The whole world was a mess right now, and his brain was stuck on the woman with the light blue eyes.

He'd always been half looking forward and half reluctant to meet his soulmate.

On one hand, the fact that he even had a soulmark was amazing and he'd be lying if he said that a prospect of having a soulmate, someone that fit him in all the important ways, wasn't something he wished for. The words of the soulmark, while tentative, showed the desire of changing something, he didn't know what then, for the best, and he could admire that.

On the other hand, he'd been a templar, and he was afraid that his soulmate could be a mage. He knew what happened to templars if a mage in their Circle turned out to be their soul companion. It was one of the reasons that they were encouraged not to talk to mages at all.

He'd met some templars like that. Newly reassigned from another Circle tower, with haunted eyes. Sometimes they turned to sadness, other times to anger. It was a somber thing.

He wasn't a templar anymore but the irony that his soulmate was actually a mage wasn't lost on him.

He was glad, now more than ever, that he had managed to see reason after Kirkwall. He didn't know what he would have done if he had met her when he was still full of anger towards mages. He didn't wish to dwell on it.

He hoped that she could see him and not his former profession. He hoped that templars hadn't treated her as badly as he knew some templars treated mages. He hoped that she could trust him.

Above all, he hoped that she would survive this.

She was their prisoner but both he and Leliana had been reluctant to put the blame of such an horrific event on just one person, even if that person was a mage and even if she was the only person to survive the explosion.

He was convinced that no normal person could be the one and only cause of _something_ that managed to cut the sky open and let demons in.

He knew by now that sometimes things were nothing like what they seemed like. Life had taught him that. Kirkwall had taught him that.

The fact that she had almost died after being found amidst the ruins of where the Temple of Sacred Ashes had stood, only solidified his reasoning.

It was strange to think about standing a few feet away from where she had been laid, unconscious, being tended by Solas, and not knowing she was his soulmate.

He could have lost her so easily. He still could.

And it was wrecking havoc on his nervous system.

He wanted to actually meet her, talk to her, get to know her, her story, her likes and dislikes, see if they were compatible romantically. Most soulmates were, but not all.

She was beautiful, there was no denying it. Blonde hair, a few shades lighter than his, held tight in a high ponytail with braids by her temples, coupled with light blue eyes and overall noble features made for quite the beauty, even if wearing a look of restrained desperation and a vertical scar on one of cheeks.

Absently, he wondered at the story behind it.

Cullen rubbed his soulmark again and raised his eyes to the breach in the sky.

* * *

"You've met Commander Cullen, leader of the Inquisition forces."

"It was only for a moment on the field, I'm pleased you survived."

He felt his words were almost too inconsequential, too weak for the feeling behind them. She was his soulmate and he had met her then.

That moment had been important. And he was more than _merely_ pleased that she had survived.

He was well-read but words had never been his forte, so he regarded her openly, with a warm smile, willing her to grasp the feelings more than the words.

She nodded at him, gaze fixed on his. They had barely moved from him since she had entered the room. Her expression remained impassive save for her eyes. They held a myriad of feelings that he speculated he wasn't yet equipped to unveil.

A few moments later, Cullen finally learned her name.

Lyra.

Lyra Trevelyan.

* * *

"Isn't it strange that our handwriting changes during our lives but the soulmarks always have the current handwriting of the soulmates when we meet them?" Lyra asked, tone a tad whimsical.

"Truly? I had never thought about it." Cullen told her, honey brown eyes fixed on her.

There was playfulness on her eyes. "You're lucky you don't have my horrendous childhood handwriting on your skin."

He chuckled. "I doubt it would matter, in the end."

"Perhaps." She smiled. "I've always loved your handwriting," She told him softly, looking at his words on her wrist, "I wanted to write as beautifully as you did when I was a child. I was afraid you wouldn't like me if I had a hideous handwriting."

He chuckled at her story and grasped her wrist gently in his hands with a warm smile, "I think the Maker knew what He was doing."

Her expression was soft but happiness shined brightly in her eyes as she looked at him, "Yes." She agreed with feeling.

And Cullen knew that whatever his future had in store for him, he would be fine, if Lyra was by his side.

* * *

 **A/N:** A few people on AO3 asked for more and I like to deliver! ;D

(I like to imagine that anytime the Inquisitor was in danger, Cullen bugged the closest person to make sure his soulmark was still there. That way he would have known that she was alive after Haven, etc :P )

Thank you for reading!


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